The name Lisande handwritten in her own lettering

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Physical product design, manufacturing and eCommerce

I wanted to use communication design and storytelling to elevate topics to create a more hopeful, diverse, and just world for children. I wanted to showcase women we should know that our school books didn't feature. I wanted kids to be engaged with the natural world by experiencing awe and learning facts. And I wanted to strongly push back against the stereotypes children grow up with, in order to change who we are as adults. Skwoodle (a mix of school, squiggles and doodling) was born!

2018 to 2021

The business

A social enterprise I setup with sustainability and transparency, where profits were used to support work with families in Cambodia.

Challenges

Ethically manufacturing and selling goods during a pandemic, and making sure everything was as sustainable as possible within our economic system. Hundreds of hours in Illustrator.

Audience

Any form of parent or caregiver, relatives, schools and educators, professionals who work with children, and anyone who cares about the world we're shaping.

A bright yelloe background shows five of the Skwoodle kids from a varying range of cultures and features.
Some of the group of our Skwoodle kids. I had a deep focus on making sure we were representative of the world and all kids could see themselves, their family, and their friends in the characters. Our excellent designer did a fantastic job of illustrating these concepts.

The big idea

The biggest part of this enterprise was learning through beautiful and accessible design. The products were for schools and adults to purchase, but the content was designed to engage children. We were careful to design in a way that was inclusive and embraced kids and adults no matter whether they were biological parents, foster parents, step-parents, grandparents, teachers, aunties & uncles, friends, caregivers, or professionals.

Developing a truly inclusive brand

I wanted to create a fun brand that was easy to engage with and that both kids and the adults in their lives could enjoy. We designed out a range of characters - our Skwoodle family - that we could use across the brand and products in various scenarios and positions. I worked on the colors while our illustrator worked on patterns so we could tie this across all the online and offline elements of the brand.

Seven of the Skwoodle kids are featured here from a range of genders, faiths, and cultures.
On a solide light blue background, eight white social media graphics are shown, each with a quote such as empathy is a super power.

Designing and manufacturing a puzzle

I had started a #womenweshouldknow series that was resonating well with our online audience, and sketched out a range of related products. We had already been crafting stories about hundreds of women and our designer had been drawing up wonderful portraits. The first product off the ranks for this concept was a puzzle - something that could easily draw in the teenagers and adults too. The designer and I split up the work and created half each to make this puzzle illustration, and I spent the following weeks finessing each detail. Something that's hard to avoid when going to print as it's permanent.

A stop motion video created by an audience member!

Endlessly prototyping dimensions and feel

I scouted every possible local manufacturer (ultimately no local capability existed) and then turned overseas for a woman-run manufacturing enterprise that understood our vision and could ship our puzzles. We used recycled cardboard for the puzzle, and replaced the plastic bag with a 100% cotton bag. I dedicated several months to the design of the puzzle box, opting for a long rectangular shape as opposed to the industry-standard shallow landscape boxes or cylindrical designs. The dimensions of the boxes were aligned with the upcoming product deck range to ensure they fit together and stack, allowing the items to stand out whether displayed at home, in a classroom, or on retail shelves. Additionally, I designed accompanying booklets for each puzzle, which featured short histories on each woman.

Try for yourself: Always, always print your packaging, play with it, adjust, print again, refine, and repeat as needed until you finalize (make sure all your files are in CMYK and you're printing with decent ink and coverage when checking colors).

The manufactured puzzle box has been photographed professionally against a green and yellow background. The puzzle stands on the yellow floor with the booklet laying in front, and the white cotton bag next to it on the right, with the puzzle pieces spilling out.
The puzzle, the booklet and the bag shot by Mark Lobo. The puzzle also included a large reference image of the illustration which could double as a poster too.
A shot of the puzzle on a light grey background
A photo of a woman making the puzzle. You can see her hands with red painted fingernails, laying puzzle pieces in their spots on a wooden table.
A page of the puzzle booklet on a bright yellow background. This page features May Ziade, a strong voice and writer in the Arab literary scene.
A bedroom is shown with a neutral palette of greys and browns, and the puzzle hanging on the wall in a dark black frame.
The puzzle was designed so it could be framed and look good as a work of art too (hopefully!).

Posters that break stereotypes

The next product was creating posters. The point of the posters was to give parents, teachers, and professionals working with children (i.e. speech pathologists), representative posters with the concept of “what we see, we can become” in my head driving this product idea. I outlined the initial range I wanted us to create focusing on breaking stereotypes, and our designer got busy with our Skwoodle family. I worked on the text and reviewed the copy and designs thoroughly with an anti-colonial bias advisor and two editors. During this I arranged ethical manufacturing from a local, woman-run organization, using recycled paper and vegetable inks. The organization was a social enterprise which donated a percentage of their profits. Their work was immaculate and after the test prints, we produced the first batch of prints for sale.

A living room showing a large poster hanging on the wall of a supreme court with only women and non-binary judges of varying races, facial and hair characterists
A kids bedroom with a green wall where a poster hangs of a young Black girl in a yellow dress, standing next to her desk with a computer, designing and coding games. There are game posters on her wall.
A kids room with a poster leaning against the side of the bed. The poster shows two women in a cafe, one is bottle feeding her child and the other is breastfeeding. Both women are not white.
A kids bedroom with a poster hanging on the wall of two girls skateboarding. One girl is wearing a dress and hijab, while the other is a Native American.
A kids bedroom with a desk and on the wall is hanging our poster for an Activist Alphabet with each letter showing different words.
A kids bedroom and on the wall is hanging our poster for helping to protect our world.
On a solid pink background with plant shadows are shown four other poster images in squares including a father and daughter doing groceries, a woman Black professional chef, and a white boy dancing at the ballet bar.
A kids bedroom showing a fun young wigwam tent on the left and a bean bag with stuffed toys on the right. On the wall is our superheroes poster showing three Skwoodle kids. An African girl on the left in a yellow dress and princess crown on the floor wearing a cape like Batman. In the middle a boy in a wheelchair wearing a Batman mask. On the right a boy from an Asian or Middle Eastern region wearing a blue cape and batman mask, along with a small religious headpiece cap that could be interpreted for varying faiths.
The superheroes poster was a best-seller!

Crafting card decks, games, and activities

A more education specific line of the first launch was creating card decks that encouraged active participation. I designed five of these for the first line and focused on engagement and wonder with the natural world, and fighting prejudice and stereotypes (particularly relating to sexism, racism, and ableism). Each deck was always designed with engagement to ensure kids could actively participate with each card and extend their learning. This was also designed to provide teachers and parents additional activities to broaden out from. I spent far too much time on the deck packaging making sure we could grow the collection infinitely, and that each held their own pattern and illustrations whilst working together in stacks.

A bright yellow background showing the decks laid out in diagnol rows, professionally photographed
The first deck collection, shot by Mark Lobo.
A light green background shows the creatured deck packaging and cards from the decks surrounding it with illustrations of various unique animals
The Curious Creatures deck, beautifully illustrated by our illustrator, entirely learning about interesting animals that we don't usually learn about in class or children's series. Photo shot by Mark Lobo.
The front and back of one card propped up against a marble slab on a green slate background showing a girl in class dreaming of becoming a superhero
A card from our Ponder the World deck
The front and back of one card propped up against a marble slab on a green slate background showing the Aye-Aye animal and on the back showing interesting facts and a story about them along with a question - can you list five other nocturnal primates?
The Aye-Aye animal, with the back showing interesting facts and a story about them along with a question - can you list five other nocturnal primates?
An illustration of a woman we should know card featuring Laskarina Bouboulina from Greece - a naval commander.
A woman we should know card featuring Laskarina Bouboulina from Greece - a naval commander.
An illustration of a woman we should know card featuring Marsha P Johnson from the USA - a gay liberation activist.
A woman we should know card featuring Marsha P Johnson from the USA - a gay liberation activist.
Endlessly printing and prototyping packaging designs and decks
A professional photo on a green and yellow split background showing the five decks, stacked, each on an increasing offset. Each deck packaging matches but the color and patterns change, the numbers increase.
The five decks, meant to work together on any shelf and could be forever extended. Photo beautifully shot by Mark Lobo.
A young white boy with blonde hair, is shown at his kitchen table holding up two cards of Firefox Mushrooms - one is our illustrated one and one is his drawing replication from a green crayon. In the background is another boy drawing intently.
One of the natural world activities - creating your own card deck of snap or memory by first drawing the matching card from the reference. Photo by Brooke.
The dielines of a number of the deck packages which had a lid and bottom, laid out on a pale yellow background.
Packaging design is a significant amount of millimetre perfection work - I can't recall the number of hours I spent on these deck dielines!
A professional photo on a green and yellow split background showing the five decks, stacked, on the right, and the puzzle box next to them on the left.
The deck collection, next to the puzzle, shot by Mark Lobo.

I wanted to ensure our products were as ethical and environmental as possible. While we needed some accessories I cared deeply that these were limited to useful applications and treaded as lightly as we could.

Sustainability, transparency, and crafting accessories

Composting for businesses often means industrial composting, rather than at home, rendering its application largely useless, which I wanted to limit. I contacted a local small business who salvaged and recycled wood - largely from properties as asked or received from Indigenous groups and organizations removing non-native species. We used this wood to handmake our own frames and blocks, using a shared workshop, and they could be home composted when required. I opted for Japanese washi paper using recycled materials, cotton and hemp, that could all be garden composted. I wrapped puzzle orders using a Japanese technique too that largely didn't require any tape usage. All inks used were vegetable inks. Our twine was 100% hemp for yard composting, as were our mailer bags.

A close up shot of the wooden frames with magnets in them so they would stick together when hanging posters.
A close up shot of the wooden frames and hemp twine (magnets inside for hanging posters)
A photo of a man's hand selected a piece of wood from the salvaged wood business nearby - photo shot by me
Selecting salvaged wood (photo be me)
A photo of a mans leg standing on a tree stump next many collected tree branches from the salvaged wood business nearby - photo shot by me
Rummaging through the rescued tree word (photo by me)
A photo (shot be me) of a close up of a finished frames product where in the centre I wrapped each frame order with leftover brown paper scraps and a little tag with a handlettered thank you note
I wrapped each frame order with leftover paper scraps and a little tag with a handlettered thank you note
A photo of a wooden round block holder holding one of the animal cards - this time a fox
A circular card holder block so card decks could also be used as decorative elements (photo by me)
A photo of a wooden round block holder holding one of the animal cards - this time a butterfly
As the wood was salvaged we divided products into 'lighter' or 'darker' ranges - each with their own unique markings (photo by me)
The darker hanging wood poster frames shown against a grey wall with the women we should know poster
The light colored hanging wood poster frames shown against a grey wall with the this is our world poster
Puzzle boxes in brown paper are shown in a stack, each with twine around them, and a bow holding a handlettered thank you card and a dried orange for some festive holiday cheer
Wrapping christmas orders!
On a purple background with a yellow paper floor, is a stack of washi tapes with one of the top tapes pulled out and extended so you can see the Skwoodle pattern on it - this photo has been professionally shot and edited in a studio
The washi tape with our Skwoodle pattern - photo beautifully shot by Mark Lobo

Online marketing strategy and design

Given how important it was for us to communicate stories, facts, social justice, and environmental topics, it was essential that our design and storytelling were well put together. Our focus was primarily on the visual platforms of Instagram and Pinterest, where we ensured that every post adhered to a cohesive and appealing aesthetic, and that maintained consistent updates. This included a balanced mix of product photography, real-world projects, stories, and affirmations, designed to resonate with our audience without taking all our time away from product development. All non-photo posts were illustrated and written by us.

A slate blue background shows a 3 by 3 grid of 9 social media images used
A light peach background shows off a stack of three mockup phones with the top one floating and showing the social media feed, and the other two, showing two graphics each
A social graphic image of a solid background, with a Skwoodle brand pattern and a recommended book in a book mockup, with the age recommendation by us in a circle next to it - this book is Girl in the Broken Mirror
A social graphic image of a solid background, with a Skwoodle brand pattern and a recommended book in a book mockup, with the age recommendation by us in a circle next to it - this book is Darius the Great
A light blue blackground shows eight affirmation images with the Skwoodle colors and patterns
A light green background shows a 3 by 3 grid of 9 social media images used
An image of sperm whales drawn by the Skwoodle team - sperm whales can be found snoozing vertically in the ocean so this post highlighed facts about them
A light pink background shows three white phone screens, the left with a dad joke illustration, the middle one with a shot of our feed showing the grid, and the right an illustration of popcorn
Bioluminiscent fungi drawn by the Skwoodle team - to accompany a post about these
A woman Black professional chef standing next to a kitchen counter with a carrot, knife, and pan with boiling water
An image of one of the skwoodle kids with the affirmation It is okay not to know everything
An image of one of the skwoodle kids with the affirmation Mistakes help me learn and grow
An image of one of the skwoodle kids with the affirmation It is okay to cry
An image of one of the skwoodle kids with the affirmation I can do hard things

Levering social media into extended learning resources

The website launched with a blog to make the most of the content shared on social media. The brand focused on learning, connecting or empathizing with others, and exploring topics in a way that both kids and adults could relate to. The blog therfore served as an extension of our socials, offering actionable steps from each post and linking to relevant resources and experts for further exploration. This was also a boost to our SEO as we had niche and specific topics. Several blog post formats were developed to accommodate different types of content, making it easy to use depending on the category. I set it up so each post was automatically created as a draft after it was published on the socials, we added the extended learning and then scheduled it for regular publishing updates.

The blog page is shown - at the top is the title Learn with us which is then followed by each of the category topics (such as Women, Environment, Science, Racism). Each topic has a small number written next to it for the number of posts within that category. Beneath this are two columns of posts. Each post shows a square graphic/illustration/photo on the left. The right is a white background with a small sentence or two and the category topic underneath it.
A blog post featuring a woman we should know (Viola Desmond) with the original social media description and image and then extended items to take action by reading an article and following a specific account
An example of a women we should know learning extension
A blog post featuring a recommended book with the original social media description and image and then extended items to take action by buying the book, checking out the author's website, and finding the original illustrator on their social media account
An example of a book recommendation

Ecommerce design, development, and product transparency

I designed and developed the website with a focus on price transparency for the products. I'm a big believer in this and as all business owners have to know each product cost in any case, making this information available is not tricky. I carried out the calculations of each product and chose icons or created my own for each category. I then pulled them together for each product and once I finished coding up the product page template, they were uploaded there. On the product pages I also developed a range of toggles beyond the product description so different audience members could find all the information they wanted for each product in a click.

A live shot from the product puzzle page on the website showing product photos on the left, description on the right, toggles for information on shipping, packaging, sustainability, ethics, impact, gifting, teacher discounts, and product specifications. This was followed by a transparency area on pricing and a reviews secction.
A live shot from the product puzzle page on the website
On a bold yello background are three live shots from the site on transparency across the social enterprise, impact, and the shop page with price transparency demonstrations
Live shots from the site on transparency across the social enterprise, impact, and the shop page with price transparency examples

Better postage and handling

I had undertaken some research in how to best send posters because tubes tend to cause a number of problems: losing their lids on either end (and therefore their contents, or needing to be heavily taped), being easily crushed, and being swept off machines as they're rolling through processing. Circular tubes also meant plastic lids which I was hoping to avoid and significantly more storage space required. I instead designed a triangular tube to avoid the post problems, flatpack, and ensure they were home compostable, and our illustrator whipped up some potential designs. With the base product secured and with print costs in mind (especially knowing this would be a throwaway piece), we pulled together the final design from these options.

A white image showing three different sketches of the triangle tubes designs - each with the first side for the sender, second side for the receiver, and third side
The final layout of the triangular tube packaging design shown on a white background with the three sides shown for print

Growing an audience at markets

Part of the work was getting in front of the right people so we created a stall (massive thanks to John for his ideas, precision woodwork, and huge recycling efforts) and I hit the markets! I have so much respect for people who do this regularly, it is every emotion from wonderful to heartbreaking.

After a few long years, I left Skwoodle in this little bubble we had created, but I'm so happy with the time we did it!

A bright yellow Skwoodle stall setup. The backboard hangs three posters and a 3D woodwork cut out of the SKWOODLE logo. On the table are the products, with a shelf in front for the posters and a heigher section on the table for the decks.
A closeup of the puzzle and washi tapes on the market stall.
A closeup of the decks on the market stall.
The name Lisande handwritten in her own lettering